Post by ginger newts on Aug 28, 2004 0:21:46 GMT -5
I needed a break from my other fic so I wrote this up real quick. Just an idea that came to me on the way to work one day, hope you like it, but feel free to tell me it's not funny at all. 
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Bet
“I’m never going to learn all this stuff in a week!” Henry Weasley tripped through the portrait hole and spilled a huge stack of books and a bottle of ink all over the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.
“You were supposed to have learned it during the last seven years, we’re meant to be reviewing now,” Minerva McGonagall told him, exasperated, as she climbed over him and levitated all his books into a stack on the nearest table and cleaned off the ink.
“Thanks,” Henry said breathlessly sitting down at the table.
“That’s all well and good for you, Minerva, you’ve been top of the class since we got here. But the rest of us have spent some time outside the classrooms and library, how’re we supposed to remember everything we’ve ever been taught in seven years?” Henry’s twin joined them at the table for their study session.
“You tell ‘er, Will,” said Mary Thomas as she pulled up a fourth chair.
Minerva just sighed and rolled her eyes at all of them before pulling out a stack of Charms notes.
It was a week before N.E.W.T.s and all the seventh years were in various states of distress and the fifth years weren’t faring much better as they prepared for their O.W.L.s. The rest of Gryffindor Tower was full of relatively carefree students who had only end of year tests to worry about, but for the most part they were all studying too so it was a fairly quiet night. Minerva was seated in a corner where she could see most of what was going on in the room and she watched in amusement, but with a completely impassive face, as student after student slowly become confused. One second year was staring incredulously at the toad sitting in his hand that had only moments ago been his quill and others were diving to the floor or jumping into the air to recover various items that had either suddenly leapt from their laps to run across the room or levitated out of their reach. One sixth year watched in amazement as the queen from her chess set suddenly grew to three feet tall and toppled off the board. Items all over the room were turning into other items as still more erasers and pieces of parchment began to race each other about the circumference of the ceiling. A few students were laughing so hard they had fallen out of their seats and were literally rolling on the floor.
Finally, someone realized the cause of the sudden commotion. “Minerva! It’s highly unfair to practice for your exams by bewitching our study aids!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said indignantly.
“Oh, come off it. You’re the only one that could do all this at the same time, without making a sound no less.” Will was now eyeing her warily, but next to him Henry looked highly impressed.
“Alright, alright, it was me,” she canceled all the spells and set about returning things to their original state, slightly put out at having been caught in her stealthy attack.
“How do you do that?!” Mary asked.
“Do what?”
“You know what. I’ve never seen anybody but the teachers perform such good spell work, and no student can do it without speaking the incantations.”
By now, all eyes were on Minerva and she was a little nervous about all the attention, not to mention impatient because they were keeping her from studying. “You could do it too if you just concentrated a little harder. The magic is in you, you know. Not the wand, not the words, you. It just takes thinking about it.”
They just scoffed as everyone else shook their heads and resumed studying.
A second year approached the table, looking somewhat timid but determined, and addressed Minerva. “You’re really good, you know. They say maybe the best student Hogwarts has ever seen. I scored highest in my class last year on the Transfiguration final but I still didn’t come within ten points of your first year score.”
“People know my first year Transfiguration score?” Minerva was taken aback.
The girl nodded, “Apparently you’ve set records every year. Professor Dumbledore told me. And are you really the youngest animagus in a century?” She asked in an awed voice.
Minerva smiled, so Albus had been bragging about her again. She did pride herself on her Transfiguration skills though. “Actually, I think it’s two or three centuries, but I don’t usually think about it.”
“I love Transfiguration, it’s my favorite subject. It’s so exciting to turn things into completely different things. I know it’s one of the hardest subjects here too and that makes it even more interesting, you have to really pay attention. I can’t wait till we get to vanishing and conjuring spells.”
Minerva was starting to like this girl, anyone who loved Transfiguration was okay in her book. She had a sudden idea and for once decided to act on impulse, she hoped the child could back her up. “I bet you could learn vanishment before fifth year, how would you like to try?”
“Would you teach me?” Minerva nodded. “Really? Wow, that’d be amazing. I’d love to. Will you have time, though, with your exams coming up?”
“Sure, we’ll work on it a little each night after we study. Tell me, do they still do levitation in first year Charms?” The girl nodded. “Good. Oy,” she turned to her fellow seventh years, “how about a bet?”
They all looked at her like she’d lost her mind. Minerva McGonagall wanted to make a bet? What on earth did she want to bet on?
Henry Weasley was always up for a bit of fun so he said, “Alright, why not. What are the stakes?”
“Okay, you three learn to levitate a piece of parchment each without saying ‘wingardium leviosa’ before I teach, erm, Grace is it? Before I teach Grace to vanish a piece of parchment. We’ll meet here again the night before N.E.W.T.s and whoever performs best wins. It’s a first year spell so you ought to be able to do it.”
“Alright,” Will was intrigued, “but what does the winner get.”
This time Mary piped up, “How about whoever loses has to stand up at breakfast the next morning and sing a song of the winner’s choice?”
Will, Henry, and Grace laughed, Minerva looked a bit apprehensive but decided to be brave and have faith in Grace so she agreed. “Right then, we’ll all start working tomorrow night. That gives us exactly one week till the show down.”
Everyone agreed and shook hands on the bet and then went back to their studies.
For the next week, Minerva worked with Grace every night after they finished studying. She was very impressed with the younger girl’s abilities as well as her study skills. The first night, she had Grace read the chapter on vanishment in her old Transfiguration book and then write a summary of it while she practiced some runes translations.
“This summary is really good. You really seem to understand the theory behind the spell work, that’s very important.”
“I know, I realized early on that if I figured out the theory then the actual magic was much easier. I always study the book before I try anything practical.” Grace looked immensely pleased with herself.
Minerva gave her a small smile and said, “My habits exactly. You have to know what you’re doing before you do it. Prevents a lot of accidents as well.”
Then she proceeded to ask Grace several questions concerning vanishment and when she was satisfied that the child understood the theory behind it she told her to study her summary when she had a chance the next day and look over the incantation and wand movements. The next night they went over proper pronunciation and the proper way to hold and manipulate a wand to produce the desired effect. On Tuesday night, Minerva produced a small button and told Grace to try and vanish it, she didn’t expect any results right away. The other girl was a bit nervous and made a few unsuccessful attempts while Minerva watched and made a few suggestions. Before her tenth attempt, Grace stopped and took a deep calming breath, closed her eyes and concentrated for a few moments, and then opened her eyes, pointed her wand at the button and said “Evanesco.” It disappeared!
“Well done,” Minerva told her with a smile. “A record of your own, then. First second year to vanish a button.” Then she unvanished the button.
Grace was beyond excited, but her face fell when Minerva suggested that they leave it there for the night. “We have four more days,” she told her. “You know how to do it now, go get some sleep and tomorrow we’ll practice on something bigger.”
As the week went on Grace was able to vanish larger and more complex objects and both felt completely confident about the outcome of the bet. Minerva hadn’t had a chance to spy on her classmates, but she knew they were distracted by the upcoming exams and none of them had ever been very dedicated to school work. They would all rather practice Quidditch or play pranks on the other houses than bother with thinking about spells and theories. She had the feeling that she and Grace were going to win.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Bet
“I’m never going to learn all this stuff in a week!” Henry Weasley tripped through the portrait hole and spilled a huge stack of books and a bottle of ink all over the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.
“You were supposed to have learned it during the last seven years, we’re meant to be reviewing now,” Minerva McGonagall told him, exasperated, as she climbed over him and levitated all his books into a stack on the nearest table and cleaned off the ink.
“Thanks,” Henry said breathlessly sitting down at the table.
“That’s all well and good for you, Minerva, you’ve been top of the class since we got here. But the rest of us have spent some time outside the classrooms and library, how’re we supposed to remember everything we’ve ever been taught in seven years?” Henry’s twin joined them at the table for their study session.
“You tell ‘er, Will,” said Mary Thomas as she pulled up a fourth chair.
Minerva just sighed and rolled her eyes at all of them before pulling out a stack of Charms notes.
It was a week before N.E.W.T.s and all the seventh years were in various states of distress and the fifth years weren’t faring much better as they prepared for their O.W.L.s. The rest of Gryffindor Tower was full of relatively carefree students who had only end of year tests to worry about, but for the most part they were all studying too so it was a fairly quiet night. Minerva was seated in a corner where she could see most of what was going on in the room and she watched in amusement, but with a completely impassive face, as student after student slowly become confused. One second year was staring incredulously at the toad sitting in his hand that had only moments ago been his quill and others were diving to the floor or jumping into the air to recover various items that had either suddenly leapt from their laps to run across the room or levitated out of their reach. One sixth year watched in amazement as the queen from her chess set suddenly grew to three feet tall and toppled off the board. Items all over the room were turning into other items as still more erasers and pieces of parchment began to race each other about the circumference of the ceiling. A few students were laughing so hard they had fallen out of their seats and were literally rolling on the floor.
Finally, someone realized the cause of the sudden commotion. “Minerva! It’s highly unfair to practice for your exams by bewitching our study aids!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said indignantly.
“Oh, come off it. You’re the only one that could do all this at the same time, without making a sound no less.” Will was now eyeing her warily, but next to him Henry looked highly impressed.
“Alright, alright, it was me,” she canceled all the spells and set about returning things to their original state, slightly put out at having been caught in her stealthy attack.
“How do you do that?!” Mary asked.
“Do what?”
“You know what. I’ve never seen anybody but the teachers perform such good spell work, and no student can do it without speaking the incantations.”
By now, all eyes were on Minerva and she was a little nervous about all the attention, not to mention impatient because they were keeping her from studying. “You could do it too if you just concentrated a little harder. The magic is in you, you know. Not the wand, not the words, you. It just takes thinking about it.”
They just scoffed as everyone else shook their heads and resumed studying.
A second year approached the table, looking somewhat timid but determined, and addressed Minerva. “You’re really good, you know. They say maybe the best student Hogwarts has ever seen. I scored highest in my class last year on the Transfiguration final but I still didn’t come within ten points of your first year score.”
“People know my first year Transfiguration score?” Minerva was taken aback.
The girl nodded, “Apparently you’ve set records every year. Professor Dumbledore told me. And are you really the youngest animagus in a century?” She asked in an awed voice.
Minerva smiled, so Albus had been bragging about her again. She did pride herself on her Transfiguration skills though. “Actually, I think it’s two or three centuries, but I don’t usually think about it.”
“I love Transfiguration, it’s my favorite subject. It’s so exciting to turn things into completely different things. I know it’s one of the hardest subjects here too and that makes it even more interesting, you have to really pay attention. I can’t wait till we get to vanishing and conjuring spells.”
Minerva was starting to like this girl, anyone who loved Transfiguration was okay in her book. She had a sudden idea and for once decided to act on impulse, she hoped the child could back her up. “I bet you could learn vanishment before fifth year, how would you like to try?”
“Would you teach me?” Minerva nodded. “Really? Wow, that’d be amazing. I’d love to. Will you have time, though, with your exams coming up?”
“Sure, we’ll work on it a little each night after we study. Tell me, do they still do levitation in first year Charms?” The girl nodded. “Good. Oy,” she turned to her fellow seventh years, “how about a bet?”
They all looked at her like she’d lost her mind. Minerva McGonagall wanted to make a bet? What on earth did she want to bet on?
Henry Weasley was always up for a bit of fun so he said, “Alright, why not. What are the stakes?”
“Okay, you three learn to levitate a piece of parchment each without saying ‘wingardium leviosa’ before I teach, erm, Grace is it? Before I teach Grace to vanish a piece of parchment. We’ll meet here again the night before N.E.W.T.s and whoever performs best wins. It’s a first year spell so you ought to be able to do it.”
“Alright,” Will was intrigued, “but what does the winner get.”
This time Mary piped up, “How about whoever loses has to stand up at breakfast the next morning and sing a song of the winner’s choice?”
Will, Henry, and Grace laughed, Minerva looked a bit apprehensive but decided to be brave and have faith in Grace so she agreed. “Right then, we’ll all start working tomorrow night. That gives us exactly one week till the show down.”
Everyone agreed and shook hands on the bet and then went back to their studies.
For the next week, Minerva worked with Grace every night after they finished studying. She was very impressed with the younger girl’s abilities as well as her study skills. The first night, she had Grace read the chapter on vanishment in her old Transfiguration book and then write a summary of it while she practiced some runes translations.
“This summary is really good. You really seem to understand the theory behind the spell work, that’s very important.”
“I know, I realized early on that if I figured out the theory then the actual magic was much easier. I always study the book before I try anything practical.” Grace looked immensely pleased with herself.
Minerva gave her a small smile and said, “My habits exactly. You have to know what you’re doing before you do it. Prevents a lot of accidents as well.”
Then she proceeded to ask Grace several questions concerning vanishment and when she was satisfied that the child understood the theory behind it she told her to study her summary when she had a chance the next day and look over the incantation and wand movements. The next night they went over proper pronunciation and the proper way to hold and manipulate a wand to produce the desired effect. On Tuesday night, Minerva produced a small button and told Grace to try and vanish it, she didn’t expect any results right away. The other girl was a bit nervous and made a few unsuccessful attempts while Minerva watched and made a few suggestions. Before her tenth attempt, Grace stopped and took a deep calming breath, closed her eyes and concentrated for a few moments, and then opened her eyes, pointed her wand at the button and said “Evanesco.” It disappeared!
“Well done,” Minerva told her with a smile. “A record of your own, then. First second year to vanish a button.” Then she unvanished the button.
Grace was beyond excited, but her face fell when Minerva suggested that they leave it there for the night. “We have four more days,” she told her. “You know how to do it now, go get some sleep and tomorrow we’ll practice on something bigger.”
As the week went on Grace was able to vanish larger and more complex objects and both felt completely confident about the outcome of the bet. Minerva hadn’t had a chance to spy on her classmates, but she knew they were distracted by the upcoming exams and none of them had ever been very dedicated to school work. They would all rather practice Quidditch or play pranks on the other houses than bother with thinking about spells and theories. She had the feeling that she and Grace were going to win.
)
